Dell Opens Up About Desktop Linux 517
An anonymous reader writes "Michael Dell explains his company's Linux desktop strategy in an interview at DesktopLinux.com. He says that it's not practical for Dell (the company) to support numerous distributions due to their incompatibilities, but that he doesn't want alienate large segements of the Linux community by selecting a favorite Linux distro to standardize on (Ubuntu appears to be his favorite, at the moment, by the way.) What he'd really like to see, is for the popular Linux distros to converge on a common core platform, according to the article."
I agree with Mr Dell (Score:4, Interesting)
The guy makes sense (Score:5, Interesting)
Why don't they...? (Score:3, Interesting)
Talk out of both sides of the mouth (Score:4, Interesting)
From the article: "People are always asking us to support Linux on the desktop, but the question is: 'Which Linux are you talking about?'"
Dell does a pretty good job of supporting different versions of Windows (at least 98, NT, ME, 2K, XP). "Support" really means "drivers that work with our hardware" -- they could easily sell Linux without providing software support. I'm sure one of the bigger Linux distros (Red Hat if nobody else) would be happy to team up with them for a co-branded/co-marketed PC.
I don't buy it (Score:5, Interesting)
The fact is, Dell is the one company that could make Linux on the desktop happen, if they wanted to.
Compromise (Score:2, Interesting)
Right on the money (Score:5, Interesting)
And you have heard correctly - most new systems don't come with a full install CD anymore (I buy for a medical practice). Now, you get either a "recovery" CD (most of which wipe your partitioning) or the aforementioned ghost partition (usually with an option to burn a CD backup).
It was one of the things which helped me sell Linux to the practice, when we had to buy an off-the-shelf copy of Win XP for a machine (which came with Win XP) that took an unexplained OS crap and couldn't be retored from the partition.
Re:Good for you (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:What I'd like from Dell (Score:1, Interesting)
I also want a commitment from Dell to support the principle of Freedom - the principle that allowed Linux, the GNU tools, and all the other software that adds value to Dell's sales - to exist. Specifically, I want to see Dell refuse to promote Treacherous Computing. If they don't do this, I won't buy their hardware, period.
Why the fuck does Michael Dell presume the F/OSS community should give a shit about what he thinks about anything when he has done virtually nothing at all in support of the community he would now like to take advantage of?
If frames per second means more to you than your own freedom, then you deserve what you get.
United we stand, divided we fall. (Score:3, Interesting)
Commitment to ship linux-compatible hardware (Score:2, Interesting)
If we look back a few years, we used to have a larger number of vendors that made linux-compatible modems, sound cards, video cards, wireless network cards, scanners and so on. MS has been able to lean on these enough for them to make it hard or impossible for Linux (or BSD) support. Michael Dell could help counteract this method of MS, if he so chose.
As others have posted and will post some more, it doesn't matter which distro he chooses. Once he supports one, the others can take up the slack themselves. Debian stable, being a slow-moving target and completely unencumbered, would be my first choice, but Ubuntu or Kubuntu would give a predictable release schedule.
Re:Funny (Score:5, Interesting)
Besides; it'll be a cold day in hell when the Linux community converges on a single distribution. Distributions like Gentoo will always be popular with people like me who are sick of the dependency hell of Redhat, the crippled nature of Debian (which doesn't ship with mplayer or mp3 support, fer christsake), or whatever. And there are a ton of people who think compiling everything from scratch is obsessive and takes too long.
In GoboLinux, binary and source packages are both first-class citizens, which is nice, but talk about diverging from the norm -- geez. *I* like Gobo, but there's about as much chance of it becoming The Linux Distribution as... well, as G.W. Bush has of being accepted by MENSA.
I'm not surprised that Dell doesn't grok the Linux community; if he did, he'd understand the parent poster's point, but you have to understand the fact that the Linux community is largely comprised of DIYers.
--- SER
Re:A Question to Spark Wars - The Best Distro Is?? (Score:3, Interesting)
We've heard this all before (Score:1, Interesting)
1) Hardware support. I do not have the time to spend 20 hours configuring a system. I need it to work out of the box so I can get to my daily computing tasks.
2) Applications. If I need feature "x" in application "y" then I expect it to be there. Sure, in the Linux world the idea is to cobble together a string of 30 small apps to achieve one process but that hinders my productivity. Yes that may make Linux more powerful but it also makes it necessary to pull up "man" pages all the time.
I could switch to a Mac if I really wanted to but the problem there is cost and the lack of applications. Cost can be dealt with but I need my applications.
What a bunch of BS! (Score:4, Interesting)
We love Linux, and we're doing our best to support the Linux community.
Mr. Dell,
Please put your products where your mouth is. If you are so supportive of Linux, please put your suppliers on notice that you will not buy from them without Linux drivers, please design and promote your full line of PCs as "Linux ready", provide strong customer support for 3 or 4 distros (they really aren't that different under the hood) and please, oh please, sell them at a price that doesn't include an M$ tax.
Still waiting after all these years.
their own DelLinux (Score:3, Interesting)
I know, I know, to start such a thing is easy, but to keep it updated is going to cost _real_ money. But they can outsource that to their folks in India, or wherever.
Re:Funny (Score:5, Interesting)
Do you honestly believe that's what Dell was saying? Personally, I think that's total horse crap! Allow me to run this through the BS filter for you. The BS-less version goes something like this:
How does a plethora of distributions affect Dell choosing and supporting one of them? It doesn't. What keeps them from getting inundated with tech support calls regarding fifty different distros right now? Nothing. It's just "Sorry, we don't support that." How would selling and supporting a machine with distro-X on it change that? It wouldn't. Tech support calls for distro-Y just get "Sorry, we don't support that."
It's Dell's mouth moving, but it's Gates doing the talking.
Re:What I'd like from Dell (Score:3, Interesting)
ANY linux distro. It is not just the Average Joe User who buys his shiny new
Dell on-line (consumer grade machine) that is a Dell Computer support issue.
As someone who has deployed Dell servers and (corporate) workstations for
a large defense contractor, I can tell you that OEM's (not just Dell) have a huge
problem delivering a single shipment of computers with the same hardware.
Unlike the good old days, motherboards, video cards, memory sticks, and
more are all commodity items that change at will.
Bringing some level of driver support in-house would require a level of QA and
revision control that Dell does not now have, and at a price that would degrade
their margins. They, like many other OEMs, rely upon their vendors to supply
working drivers. With vendor NDA agreements that preclude furnishing source
code, Dell is totally reliant upon binary drivers. Imagine a product manager that
would have to deal with issues related to 100 different system components and
their associated binary drivers, their mutual compatability, and support across
dozens of different linux distributions.
The proverbial "Microsoft tax" extends well upstream from Dell's assembly lines.
Dell, HP, and other computer OEMs that "bottom-feed" both the consumer and
corporate market don't control their product as much as their component vendors
do. If you're looking for decent QA and version control of your computer hardware,
expect to pay a premium and at a different vendor, like Apple or Sun.
Re:Funny (Score:4, Interesting)
Linux has far more at stake in getting a Dell/Linux deal than does Dell.
Re:Funny (Score:3, Interesting)
someone might be able to Google it
is overassumptive (yes, I like to create my own words). Pulling from my experience with students I lived with in the college dorm and the general userbase I have to support now, no one even knows that you can get tech information from Google. I know, it sounds ridiculous. But most people think Google is just a way to find recipes or driving directions. When a computer breaks, no one (other than us techies) automatically thinks, "Google." This is especially true with the majority of Dell's userbase.
Re:Funny (Score:5, Interesting)
The PARENT is right.
The Linux Community needs to listen to Dell, not the other way around.
Are we "clients" of Dell? Yeah, sort of, but let's face it, if Linux disappeared overnight it would not make a bit of difference to Dell's bottom line. There is simply no profit motive for them to listen to a bunch of whiny, "gimmie gimmie gimme Micro$oft SUXORS!" idiots who can't even agree on a common desktop environment.
On the other hand, if the Linux community listens to Dell - who, personally, is obvious sympathetic to Linux - and agrees on certain standards that would make it possible for Dell to ship a "generic" Linux distro and basic RPM &
I've used Dell support for Linux Servers. They want RedHat Enterprise, and I can understand it, because from a support perspective, it is predictable. I called 'em up and said, "Hey, I'm running CentOS, a RHEL clonse, just treat me like I'm running RedHat, ok?" and the techs say "sure!" and eagerly get to helping me with my problems. The Dell Techs are smart enought (well, the business ones based in the US, the Indians have to stick to their scripts) to support a "baseline" linux. However, it would be an UNPROFITABLE support nightmare to support every - or even the 5 biggest - distros out there.
Go ahead. Whine about how "Dell doesn't listen to the Linux community". You'll score points with the Linux zealots who find it easier to badmouth the 90% of the world that doesn't use Linux. But, if you want to make true Linux desktop adaption a reality - if you want to see Linux develop a true installed base that would prevent Microsoft from doing something wacky like develop proprietary extensions that "everyone must have" or enough of an installed base so that some big, coroporate lobbyists will DEFEND Linux when our braindead politicians are bought off by other big corporate lobbyists try to ban Linux form some ridiculous reason - and don't laugh, it's on the horizon, there are powerful interests - both corporate and governmental (RIAA, anyone) that think the idea of people being able to actually work their own computer hardware & software is a Bad Thing(tm) - well, if you want to see Linux groow, then listen to what people like Michael Dell say, and figure out wheat we can do to make their lives easier.
Our numbers are not enough for Dell to listen. Be nice, and they will work with us on hardware, and slowly, we will gain more influence. Be rude and insulting, and they'll tune us out.